Students want decision on in-person or online classes from U of A

EDMONTON -

Students at the University of Alberta want to see a decision from the school about whether classes will be moving online or staying in-person in January.

“We know Omicron cases have skyrocketed in Alberta over the last few days and students are rightly wondering what this is going to mean for their education and their classes,” said Rowan Ley, president of the U of A Students’ Union.

“So far, students have received no guidance other than an email from the university telling us we’ll get our next update on January 14.”

Other universities in the country have already made announcements about their plans, with many going online for a few weeks when classes resume in the new year, added Ley.

“If we’re going to go online, then instructors need time to prepare, students need time to get back to Edmonton or get to the place they need to be to take those lessons,” said Ley.

“If it’s necessary for public health, then we’re fine with classes going online for a couple of weeks in January, as long as they do come back in person and there’s a plan to get back in person as soon as it’s safe to do so.”

On Dec. 17, the university announced, "Based on the available information about the variant in Alberta and our safety successes this fall, our plans for January 2022 remain unchanged at this time.”

CTV News Edmonton spoke to several students on campus who would like classes to remain in-person, but understand the potential need to move them online.

“For a lot of my classes, it doesn’t matter, but since I’m in engineering, one of the big things is application,” said Tyler Lambert, a third-year engineering student. “So having that lab opportunity to work with the equipment… you can’t get that when it’s online.”

“For anyone who has medical conditions I think it would be a good thing, it gives them a break and they don’t have to stress about that at school,” said Rebecka Westling, a fourth-year student.

Students also said better communication from the university “would be nice.” According to Ley, the last time students found out about the move to online classes, the email came in after midnight and took effect that day.

“In the last few waves of COVID, decisions that needed to be made about what would happen with universities weren’t made until the last minute,” said Ley.

“We can kind of see where Omicron is going and I really hope that the government and the university will act sooner to give us some certainty, rather than waiting until the last minute again and putting us all through a lot of uncertainty and stress.”

The U of A requires all students on campus to be vaccinated against COVID-19.

Tuesday, the Alberta government announced 786 new COVID-19 cases and that Omicron is now the dominant strain in the province.

With files from CTV News Edmonton’s Touria Izri